This invention relates to lead acid battery plate construction having means for reducing the lead dust created during battery assembly, and more specifically to a lead acid battery plate in which the dust preventative is added to the paste mix prior to pasting of the grids.
The standard procedure for manufacturing lead acid storage batteries generally requires the steps of: (1) mixing the positive and negative paste batches; (2) manufacturing the grids; (3) pasting the grids to make plates; (4) drying and curing the plates; (5) forming the plates; (6) stacking the plates with separators for final assembly into a battery container. These steps all require various degrees of transporting and handling which results in contact between the plates themselves and the various pieces of equipment used to assemble batteries. Fine leady particles are thereby produced which emanate into the air to create a pollution problem.
For purposes of improving the quality of the environment for the workers and to meet federal regulations for air standards, changes in the standard procedure for manufacturing batteries are required. Several prior art ideas for meeting this challenge are known. Meygret, U.S. Pat. No. 776,192, discloses the use of tetra-acetate of cellulose to make a film for coating for a lead acid plate. Jackson et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,496,020 discloses the use of vinyl resins in the paste mix. Lello et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,518,120, discloses the use of a polymerized resin coating containing an abietic acid dimer. Weissman et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,829, discloses a lead acid battery plate coated with a water soluble coating of a film forming polymeric compound, such as polymerized polyvinyl alcohol or other similar substances.
Despite these various additives and coatings, there still remains today a need for a method to economically reduce the dusting of lead acid battery plates while not affecting the battery performance.